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Written Question
Semaglutide
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure the adequacy of short-term supplies of the diabetes medication Ozempic or semaglutide.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following intensive work with industry, the broad supply position for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in the United Kingdom has improved. However, global supply issues remain with specific medicines, including ozempic (semaglutide). We issued updated guidance to healthcare professionals in the form of a National Patient Safety Alert on 3 January 2024, on how to manage patients requiring these medicines, with input from expert clinicians. We continue to work closely with manufacturers and others working in the supply chain to help ensure the continued supply of GLP-1 RAs for UK patients, and to resolve the remaining supply issues as quickly as possible, for example by asking suppliers to expedite deliveries.

We know how distressing and frustrating medicine supply issues can be, and the Department will continue to help ensure that these critical medicines reach diabetes patients. If any patient is concerned about their treatment, they should discuss this with their clinician at the earliest opportunity.


Written Question
Health Services: Disability
Thursday 11th January 2024

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2023 to Question 4738 on Health Services: Disability, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the updated Accessible Information Standard is published as soon as possible.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

NHS England is responsible for the review of the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) and its publication and remains committed to publishing the updated AIS as soon as possible. NHS England is working to both progress the documentation through the publication approval process as well as ensuring that, when published, the AIS and supporting documentation are available in accessible formats.

The Department is working closely with NHS England to ensure joint implementation of the updated AIS and receives periodic updates on progress. Following extensive engagement, with a specific focus on those with lived experience and the voluntary sector organisations that support them, NHS England has completed the review of the AIS and its associated documents. The review considered the effectiveness of the current AIS, how the standard is implemented and enforced in practice, and identified recommendations for improvement.


Written Question
Pharmacy
Monday 18th December 2023

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help maintain the availability of (a) pharmacies and (b) medication.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is closely monitoring changes to the pharmacy network to ensure access to the services they provide on behalf of the National Health Service. Access to services remains good with 80% of people in England living within 20 minutes walking distance of a pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas of the country. Patients can also choose to access NHS pharmaceutical services remotely through any of the approximately 400 internet pharmacies, who are contractually required to deliver medicines to patient home free of charge. Every three years, local authorities in England undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs.

We have well-established processes for managing and mitigating medicine supply issues, which involve working with the pharmaceutical industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, the devolved governments and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients have access to the treatments they need.


Written Question
Midwives: Termination of Employment
Thursday 7th December 2023

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the age profile of midwives leaving NHS employment in (a) November 2023 and (b) each November since 2013.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The information requested is shown in the attached tables.


Written Question
Midwives
Thursday 7th December 2023

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the age profile of the NHS midwifery workforce for (a) November 2023 and (b) each November since 2013.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The information requested is shown in the attached tables.


Written Question
Dentistry: Migrant Workers
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) dentists and (b) dental care professionals from overseas were registered (i) between March 2022 and March 2023 and (ii) since March 2023.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentists and dental care professionals (DCPs) practising in the United Kingdom and enforces the standards they must adhere to. In order to practise in the UK, dentists and DCPs are required to hold registration with the GDC.

The Department does not hold data on how many dentists and DCPs have been registered with the GDC. Data on the registration of dentists and DCPs with the GDC is held by the GDC.


Written Question
Dentistry: Labour Turnover and Recruitment
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS dentists.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which was published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver a workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next five, ten and fifteen years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.

We have recently taken steps to streamline registration of overseas-trained dentists, including legislation to enable the General Dental Council to improve its international registration processes, and streamlining the process for overseas dentists to join the Dental Performers List and start working in the NHS.

Furthermore, we are currently working on a plan for dentistry to improve access to dental care across England. Our plan will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022 and will address making NHS work more attractive to ensure dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.


Written Question
Dentistry: Finance
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure the NHS dentistry budget is fully used in the 2023-24 financial year.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

From 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for identifying areas of need and to determine the priorities for investment.

NHS England has provided guidance for ICBs that requires dental funding to be ringfenced, with any unused resources re-directed to improve National Health Service dental access in the first instance. A schedule setting out the dental ringfence has been issued to ICBs. NHS England’s 2023/24 revenue finance and contracting guidance, which provides more detail, is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/2023-24-revenue-finance-and-contracting-guidance/


Written Question
Dentistry: Oxfordshire
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the number of dentists in (a) Oxfordshire, (b) Oxford and (c) Abingdon.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The information requested is available at integrated care board (ICB) level only. The latest National Health Service Dental Statistics for England Annual Report shows that in 2022/23, 1090 dentists in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICBs performed NHS work. Dental Statistics is available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics


Written Question
Pancreatic Cancer: Vaccination
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department is providing for work on a pancreatic cancer vaccine; and what his Department's timeline is for clinical trials of the vaccine.

Answered by Will Quince

The Government is supporting the development of cancer vaccines. Through the Cancer Mission we announced £22.5 million funding for immune-based cancer therapies, including cancer vaccines, targeted to a patient’s specific cancer, and for early cancer diagnostics.

In addition, the NHS England Cancer Vaccine Launchpad was created this year to support the delivery of cancer vaccine trials across England, enabling more patients to access trials for these groundbreaking therapies. While the Department does not have timelines for pancreatic cancer vaccine trials specifically, this pathway will seek to support such trial activity.